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  • Transatlantic ReflectionsContesting the Margins and Transgressing Boundaries in the Age of AIDS
  • Cheryl B. Anderson (bio)

Dora and Susanne raised numerous issues in their introductory statement for the 2008 Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) roundtable, and, in so doing, set expansive parameters for our discussion here. They describe their commonality as the "other," as women who teach in the United States but who were not born here, and as women whose feminists commitments are fully appreciated [End Page 103] by neither the academy nor theological institutions. As a result, they see themselves as on the "margins" and presume that there is a "center" to which some of us on the panel belong. I would argue, though, that no one on this panel, whether born in the United States or not, is part of any center. The fact is that no such center exists.

When I think of the center, I think of Audre Lorde's concept of the "mythical norm." In an essay in her collection Sister Outsider, Lorde defines the "mythical norm" as "white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure."1 Although Lorde was describing a phenomenon in our society generally, it has implications for the field of religion. Because the perspectives of white, male, heterosexual Christians have become equated with traditional Christianity and "appropriate" biblical interpretation, whether in the academy or the Church, everyone who differs from that norm for one or more reasons becomes the other. Yet our numbers are far greater than those of the small segment of humanity that actually fits the mythical norm. We have to question how an infinitesimal percentage of the global population can be the center. Therefore, it is important to challenge the very notions of the "center" and the "margins" because, if not, we who constitute the majority of the world's population become complicit in our own marginalization.

Given this context, Dora and Susanne asked us, as feminist biblical scholars from a range of backgrounds, to comment on the challenges and opportunities we have identified in our own work and educational environments. Personally, I was on sabbatical during the academic year preceding the AAR meeting at which we gathered, and my research project focused on the Church's response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. As part of that project, I considered the corresponding issues of theological education and biblical interpretation in the midst of this pandemic. As an African American, I was and continue to be horrified by the current infection rates within my own community, and I wanted to learn how the Black Church, in particular, might respond more effectively. I began by visiting several African American churches that have model AIDS ministries, and I learned about whether and, if so, which biblically based resources supported their work. Then, I spent time in South Africa, at the epicenter of the pandemic, to explore how theological education is done and how churches have responded there. Funding from the Louisville Institute and the Fulbright Program enabled me to do the research. When I returned from South Africa, I was deeply affected by all that I learned, to say the least. My experience there provided the emotional and intellectual backdrop within which I read and reflected on Dora and Susanne's introductory statement. Having the issue of HIV/AIDS before me, there were four points made in their statement that especially resonated with me. [End Page 104]

First, Dora and Susanne recognize that there is a lack of interaction among feminist biblical scholars "across boundaries of geography, race, religion, and language" (93). This omission is lamentable because we have so much to learn from one another. For example, while I was in South Africa, I became aware of the common issues people of African descent face on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, I heard from international activists that I met there that they've seen the plight of women in many parts of the world worsen in recent years. In fact, the activists with whom I spoke noted that political and social gains women have made are being reversed. Such a trend is global and does not occur in isolation. Consequently, feminists who...

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